


Exhale

by LesbianZeus



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Cute, Domestic, F/F, Fluff, Girlfriends - Freeform, Killing Eve - Freeform, One Shot, Shopping Trip, Soft Villanelle - Freeform, domestic villaneve, eve and villanelle - Freeform, i dont know what this is, soft Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25047214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianZeus/pseuds/LesbianZeus
Summary: Eve has to take a shopping trip...and Villanelle tags along too, acting her usual childish self and annoying the hell out of Eve along the way. Yet neither of them are quite prepared for what's about to happen.
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Kudos: 87





	Exhale

At times like these, it was important for Eve to keep her temper. She had to tell herself to take several deep breaths before having to do inevitably what must be done. 1, 2, 3. Exhale.   
She had to go shopping with Villanelle.

Said assassin and fellow MI6 agent (not least Eve's annoyingly amorous lover with a helplessly childlike disposition) was fiddling with the end of the pen lid on the sofa in front of her, whirling it about in the air with no thought to actually writing with it. Eve was just about to open her mouth to announce they had to leave when Villanelle turned abruptly to look at her. 

'Are you sure we don't need more ibuprofen?' 

Eve stared at her girlfriend with a glaring, questioning look. In that Russian lilt of the tongue, her question was delivered more like the punchline to a comedy set. Eve had still to get used to the unpredictable nature of Villanelle's antics. 

'Why?' She laughed lightly, 'who are you trying to kill?' 

V's eyes dilated and her eyebrows raised. 

'You.' 

'Very funny.' 

'Haven't you noticed the lack of sleep I get?'

'Is that when you're devising your plans?'

'All I'm saying is you should be careful when you close your eyes at night.' She nodded with a mock seriousness, and Eve couldn't help but stand there and laugh silently to herself.   
Indulging in Villanelle's wit was it's own sport between them, and Eve was a competitive player herself. 

'Villanelle, we really have to be going now, before anyone notices we're gone.'

It still felt unusual for that beautiful name to be said by her, to slip out from her mouth and directly ask for V's attention in such a carefree, devoted manner. Whilst she was far from the 'agent of chaos' she had been before, the name 'Villanelle' had become a pet name with which Eve could relieve the nostalgia of all their old, messed up meetings. Although she loved using her real name, Oksana. Specifically for those precious moments before a kiss goodnight or a romantic confession. 

Eve gathered up her bag, slinging it round her shoulder as Villanelle jumped up from the couch fervidly. Together they made their way to the door. Just before opening it, Eve turned to quickly remind her of the 'shoulds' and 'should not's.' Honestly it sometimes felt she had a five year old constantly needing to be told how to act appropriately in society. And like most five year olds, she was prone to misbehave.

'Remember, we're to keep a low profile. There should be no reason for us to interact with anyone except the cashier and no one should recognise us, but just so we're careful we've got our backstories.' 

'A cashier? If you want to avoid everyone Eve, why don't we use the self checkouts?'

'You know I dont trust you after last time!'

'The machine didn't give me my change and it kept asking me to have a nice day.'

'That was no reason for you to kick it.'

'You know I didn't damage it that much!'

'Yes, well I'm still paying for it, aren't I?' 

Eve closed her eyes for a second. Exhale. 

'What's your name?'

'Billie.' 

'You're using Billie again?'

'Yes,' she exclaimed, with that crazily mischievous roll of her eye, 'why not?'

'I already told you your cover name.' Eve stared at Villanelle with a slight look of desperation in her eye. 

Villanelle looked away and then back with that stupidly endearing look of guilt that Eve couldn't resist. 

'I might have forgotten it.'

Eve sighed audibly, a hand going to her forehead for a second then landing back at her side. She looked up into her girlfriend's eyes, steadying herself with the bizarre calm in them. 

'Look, Eve, no one is going to ask us. Forget about the names.' She replied lightly, taking her arm for reassurance. 

Eve knew she took small things too seriously, which she often believed was why she loved Villanelle so much; they worked together like the perfect counter to the other's flaw. It was infuriating, but incredibly helpful at the best of times. 

Villanelle leaned down to press a kiss to Eve's forehead. She turned the key in the lock and opened the door. V automatically took Eve's hand as soon as they start walking; she supposed that any cover they could have had would not have survived the scale of Villanelle's affections. 

'So, tell me the operation for tomorrow.'

Eve threw her a look as Villanelle swung their hands to and fro childishly. 

'You already know the plan,' she turned back to the road ahead, 'unless you forgot that too.' She dead panned. 

'Of course I know it. I like hearing you talk.' She smiled sweetly. 

Eve looked at her with the familiar crease in her eyebrows; sometimes her soul couldn't help it when Villanelle was being adorable to her like that. To cope, her body seemed to automatically react like Villanelle had insulted her instead. 

In any case, Eve relented. 

'We're going tomorrow to get a private look into the buildings they use for the production of Tangfastics, hopefully get our hands on those mysteriously 'missing' documents and expose them for what they truly are.'

Villanelle smiled, squeezing Eve's hand lightly.   
She leaned in slightly and whispered jokingly. 

'Say it again.' 

Eve shook her head, pushing V away from her in mock disapproval. 

'Is Carolyn still working with the Russian office for this operation?'

'Yes. We have three more days to acquire the information.'

'Well, what if we take five?'

'Why would we need five? We're not slackers.' 

'No, but we need a holiday.'   
Again, she leaned in like she was actively trying to tempt her. Eve couldn't help letting out a smile.   
'You know I like Barcelona. I haven't been there for a while. I know you do too.'

'I'm not sure it's worth going to Barcelona for two days. And I dont think Carolyn would allow it in any case.'

'Forget Carolyn. And when I say two days...I really mean two weeks.' 

Of course she does. Eve looked at her again, trying to tell if she was really being serious. She admitted she could use a quick getaway from the pressures of uncertain missions and slippery operatives. Plus the added stress of worrying constantly about Villanelle being in danger. 

'I'll let you think on it. For tonight.' 

Eve nodded. She couldn't think of many things better than spending a few weeks in the sun with Villanelle, the airy light coming in from the open windows kissing the bare skin of V's shoulders, the cocktails littered, emptied, around their apartment. It made her day dream so much she hardly noticed they had arrived at the shop. 

'Alright, don't be...'

'Weird?' Villanelle offered.

'You.' 

'You're glad I don't take anything you say personally, Eve.'

Eve shoots her a smirk, entering through the revolving doors. 

'We might as well stock up on holiday essentials while we're here.' Villanelle raised her eyebrows. 

'Don't make me lose my patience with you.' She replied warningly. Villanelle took over the trolley, much to the aggravation of Eve. 

Eve swept everything they needed, from aisle to aisle, in the trolley. Villanelle, on the other hand, was being her usual self. 

Covertly, she dropped in a packet of her favourite biscuits. Eve immediately shot her another look, taking them out like a frustrated mother dealing with her spoilt daughter. Yet, Villanelle hung back, picked up the biscuits and dropped them in again whilst Eve wasn't looking. She managed to successfully do this many times, until Eve noticed the significant doubling of the trolley's contents. 

'Oksana! Stop doing that!'

Of course, she did use her real name in other situations. Like when she was mad with her. 

'Doing what?' Villanelle looked at her with feigned innocence. 

'I know what you're doing.' She says, walking further away from her and taking back the trolley. 

Villanelle caught up to Eve's side quickly with a small run. 

'Can we have shepherds pie?' 

Eve sighed, taking one thing from another from the shelves. 

'I know it's your favourite, Eve.'

'It is so not my favourite, it's your favourite.'

'It reminds me of our first date, that's why.' She smiled softly in reminiscence. 

Eve rollednher eyes but couldn't help grinning again. 

'I've told you so many times, Villanelle, that was in no way a date.'

'We had dinner and you got undressed,' she raised her eyebrows, 'that sounds like a date to me.' She quipped, taking a bite out of a sweet. 

'You know that's not what I-' Eve suddenly turned, her face wide with horror watching Villanelle freely pick out crisps from an open packet and eating them. 

'What are you doing?'

'I'm hungry.' She replied, defensively. 

'That's stealing!' 

'Not if you get caught.'

'What happened to keeping a low profile?'

'Come on, Eve, it's not like the leader of the Tangfastics company is listening to us in aisle five.'

Eve shook her head disapprovingly. Exhale. 

'I knew this would happen. Look, just take the trolley and keep your hand off the food.'

Eve took her hands for her and placed them firmly on the trolley as she walked away, scanning the shelves. Villanelle stood obstinately in the same place, watching as Eve drew further and further away. 

Eve found what she had been looking for, reaching up to the top shelf to retrieve the can she wanted. In the corner of her eye, she could see Villanelle watching her fight to grasp it. She tried again, and again, once more. No luck. 

'Need any help?' Villanelle shouted over at her. 

That bastard. As much as she loved her, Villanelle had as many ways of infuriating her as she did pleasing her. 

She turned her face coolly to her girlfriend, watching as she raised an eyebrow in further question. Eve smiled, her aggravation beneath her face. 

'No thank you, honey.' 

Villanelle made an 'o' with her mouth, turning her face away to avoid watching her struggle. She knew when Eve used certain pet names she was merely trying to keep herself under control from snapping at her. Villanelle secretly thought it was adorable. 

Eve tried a few times more, nearly coming within reach of the dammed product. Watching her for a few seconds longer in entertainment, Villanelle suddenly swaggered over behind Eve's back and took the can off the shelf effortlessly. She smirked a little at Eve, handing it to her. Although she was only a few inches taller than her, the use of her long arms came in handy more times than she'd like to admit. 

'I hate you.' 

'No, you don't.' Villanelle replied knowingly.

Eve had almost completely had enough with V's antics. 1, 2, 3. Exhale. 

They walked over to another aisle, Eve once again preoccupied by the shopping list. Despite everything she had done to annoy her, she did grant her request of shepherd's pie, seizing the many ingredients for it as she could. Then a sudden breeze wafted at her hair, and turning around, found Villanelle standing on the trolley, gliding through the aisle at an alarming speed. 

'What are you doing?'

God, she was almost tired of saying that. 

'This is...' 

She glides further forward, almost tipping it and herself over,

'Booooring!!!' 

'Villanelle!' 

Eve looked around her, hoping no one was there to judge her for her poor taste in girlfriend. 

'We're supposed to be undercover, what have I told you about making a scene in the middle of a crime syndicate mission?' 

'You know that's tomorrow, Eve, we're just shopping today.'

'Yes, I do know but for heavens sake keep your voice down!' She hissed at her. 

Villanelle sauntered over with the trolley, Eve automatically taking it from her hands. V placed her hand apologetically over Eve's. 

'Sorry baby.'

Her eyes were full of genuine regret, but Eve could see the glint of humour behind her pupils. Villanelle was such a good actor that it even fooled Eve at times. Today was not one of those times, however.   
Regardless, Eve's mouth instantly twitched to a smile out of habit. Whenever she said those words it never failed to make her a little bit weak; again, the nostalgia of it was a powerful device over Eve, and V took the liberty of abusing it often. 

Villanelle seemed to calm for a bit and strolled along by her side, taking up half of the trolley and pushing it with her. 

A silence settled between them, a comfortable one that instantly put Eve at ease. She was convinced Villanelle had given up on behaving badly, but the shopping was not over yet, and she discovered this pretty quickly. 

Firstly, taking the wrong turn down to the sweet aisle was a mistake. 

It was like immersing an addict in a room with their favourite guilty pleasure. Villanelle was once again slipping things into the trolley, Eve exasperatedly taking them out, and then again when she repeatedly put them back. 

It was worth loving Villanelle, but sometimes Eve felt like she could control and care for Carolyn more than she could her girlfriend. Which in itself, is a bold statement to make; neither of them she felt like she could ever keep up with their aloof, erratic ways. 

Whilst Eve was lost in this thought, Villanelle had managed to cause further trouble. Taken from the shelves and being dropped into the trolley were a bag of Tangfastics. 

Eve's eyebrows creased, her eyes glaring at Villanelle. 

'Why are you putting them in for?' 

'Relax, Eve, they're just sweets.'

'I know they're sweets, Villanelle, they're Tangfastics! They're owned by the company we're about to infiltrate tomorrow!' 

'So?' Villanelle screwed her face up. 'I like them.'

'Are you trying to get us killed? It looks way too suspicious!'

'It makes more sense to blend in, Eve, it would be weirder NOT to buy them.'

Even with this logic, Eve was dumbfounded. 

'Why do you keep doing this?' 

'I told you, because I'm bored.'

'Remind me to remember that the next time we need to go shopping to leave you at home.'

'That's just as bad. I have nothing to do and no one to talk to.' 

'Yeah, I can remember the last time you got bored.' Eve relieved the memory, her tone heavy with the pain of remembering it.

'At least we're not boring people.'

'We're like a bickering old married couple though.' She chuckled. The scene, from an outsiders perspective, was admittedly quite funny. 

'Maybe we should be.' 

Eve's head whipped round so fast to Villanelle she could feel the effects of whiplash crippling her neck. 

'W-what?'

'I said maybe we should be.' 

'I know what you said! But what do you mean?!'

Eve's heart seemed to beat faster and faster with every second of suspense inbetween Villanelle's words. She needed to breathe. 1, 2, 3. Exhale. 

Villanelle stopped, the harsh white lights of the supermarket dancing on her eyes, a small, content smile settling her face into one of genuine, devoted seriousness. 

'Marry me.' 

The two words were so simple, yet shot through Eve's brain like a bullet. And yes, she knew what taking a bullet felt like. This felt weirdly worse, but in a completely loving, heart wrenching way.

'You're doing this in the middle of a sainsbury's?!'

It was all she could blurt out, all that she could manage to say. Every other emotion and word was getting mixed up inside her like a brick and mortar mixer. What was she supposed to say? Yes? No? Come back to it later? WHY WAS SHE DOING THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF A SAINSBURY'S? 

As Eve's mouth trembled with voiceless words, Villanelle looked at her with a sudden change of expression, one filled with humour but genuine sincerity. 

'I don't have to get down on the ground do I?' She complained, 'this coat was an expensive limited edition.' 

Eve felt lost. She couldn't move, couldn't even focus her eyes on Villanelle's properly. She didn't know whether to hit her for the absolutely appalling choice of proposal setting, or jump into her arms and spell the word 'yes' with kisses. 

Villanelle prompted another sentence, quite unfazed by what she'd just done. 

'The Barcelona holiday...it could be our honeymoon.' She shrugged, like she was casually suggesting getting a takeaway. 

Eve thought that only Villanelle could say or do something so significant with no planning, first intention, or care that it was the most informal, unromantic proposal ever. With that fact about Villanelle in mind, however, Eve thought it was the most romantic thing she'd ever had happen to her. Sainsbury's had suddenly become the equivalent to a candle lit dinner next to the beach. 

Finally, she blew out a shaky breath.

'Oksana-' 

She stepped closer to her, a hand raised to her cheek. Before her eyes, the memory of a black-clad Villanelle with tears in her eyes swam before her. Now, however, her face was full of tender affection. 

'Saranghamnida, Eve.'

I love you, Eve. 

The words seemed to strike her at her very core, hearing her say those words in a perfectly pronounced Korean accent was enough to set her to tears. 

Gently, she pressed her lips to Villanelle's, letting everything she wanted to say pass through her without reserve. She no longer cared the trolley was rolling away from them, or that other customers may be wondering down the aisle, stopping with shock at the sight of them. As Villanelle's hand moved to the nape of her neck, an announcement came on over the tannoy. Eve didn't know what it was about but it felt like music. Everything suddenly felt infected with joy; even the products in the trolley put in there secretly by Villanelle. 

Finally creating space between them, Eve scratched her head in wonder whilst looking at Villanelle. 

'So...is that a yes?' 

'You're joking, right?' She laughs nervously. 

'I'll tell Carolyn we're taking a month off after tomorrow's operation.' 

'A month?!'

'Of course, Eve. One day of marriage and 29 days in Barcelona.' 

Eve let out a breathless laugh, 'You're crazy.'

'Yes. But you're crazier for accepting me.' 

Eve knew that it made worryingly perfect sense. She loved it all the same. 

With a nonchalant turn of the body, Villanelle took control of the trolley and walked away from Eve like nothing had ever happened. Coolly, turning her head back to look at her, she called,   
'We need to finish the shopping.' 

It felt like a jolt to reality. Slowly, she started to move her legs, even though they were still in shock. 

She guessed she was engaged now. And her fiancèe had already moved onto the checkouts.  
But first, she desperately needed to take several deep breaths. 1, 2, 3. Exhale.


End file.
